Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia has a rich history that reflects the complex and dynamic history of Middle Georgia and the South. For this project, I will be using local resources to create a portrait of Georgia Normal and Industrial College (which made the transition to the title Georgia State College for Women during the years of the Great War).
The vision I have for my blog is a document based narrative with an approximate timeline format. The nature of the women’s college at the time was very transitional; the format of the website will have to reflect that. Because of this, I plan to approach the site with a chronological format with hopes of showing related events, etc. I will be examining yearbooks, bulletins, various manuscripts, and newspapers. My vision for my Century America page is an interactive and easy-to-follow page with photos and documents.There is a collection of oral histories entitled, “Tales from the Back Porch” that I will be accessing to attempt to attain first hand accounts of Milledgeville during the war time. I would like to streamline these resources on my web page to create a organized and enlightening profile of GSCW during WWI.
A few manuscripts I plan to access are:
Dr. James C. Bonner, Milledgeville historian and former Georgia College professor.
Euri Belle Bolton – GN&IC student, teacher, Georgia State College for Women employee and writer.
Cherry Waldrep Clements – Georgia State College for Women student, Georgia public school teacher.
Julia A. Flisch – author and activist, feminist
Dr. William Ivy Hair – Historian, former Georgia College history professor
Mary Virginia Harrison and Family – Milledgeville family
Nancy Hart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
The Milledgeville/Baldwin newspaper archives will be a viable resource for local history and hopefully will shed light on the relationship with the war effort.
I hope that a theme throughout my research will be feminism and women’s roles in the war effort. Georgia Normal & Industrial College, later Georgia State College for Women, was solely a women’s college at this time. It is among my goals to highlight the role of the Southern woman during the time of the Great War, especially through education and culture at the university.
